Book Description
This innovative text offers a new way of understanding public relations and other types of strategic communication. Following the pragmatic, in-depth approach of the first edition, this text presents a step-by-step unfolding of the planning process most often used in public relations practice. Drawing from his experience in professional practice and in the classroom, author Ronald D. Smith walks readers through the critical steps for the formative research, strategic and tactical planning, and plan evaluation phases of the process.
Complete with clear explanations, relevant examples, and practical exercises, this text identifies and discusses the various decision points and options in the development of a communication program. Both classic public relations situations and current, timely events are presented in cases and examples throughout. This second edition offers new examples and updates on research, and provides new discussions on critical topics, including stereotyping and statistics.
As a classroom text or a resource for professional practice, this volume provides a model that can be adapted to fit specific circumstances and used to improve effectiveness and creativity in communication planning. It serves as an accessible and understandable guide to field-tested procedures, offering practical insights that apply to public relations campaigns and case studies coursework.
Customer Reviews:
One of my favorite campaign textbooks.......2006-01-04
It is a comprehensive textbook with a nice blend of theory and practice. Right now, it's one of my favorites. I find the sections on strategy and evaluation weak, but the parts on formative research and tactics are really good. I use it for my campaigns class along with "Strategic Public Relations Management" by Weintraub Austin and Pinkleton. I recommend it as an appopriate textbook for an undergraduate PR campaigns class, but I don't think it can stand alone.
Amazon.com
To read the latest Trump tale is to be reminded of writer Fran Lebowitz' comment that there are only two social classes in America--the celebrities and the audience. Business biographer Robert Slater, who spent 100 hours with Donald Trump, provides an intriguing link between the two in No Such Thing as Over-Exposure: Inside the Life and Celebrity of Donald Trump. About the man who made bragging an art form, Slater wonders: Does Trump have any definable business strategies and leadership strategies? Why did he become a business celebrity? Why did The Apprentice become a surprise hit?
The result is a surprisingly fascinating profile of a man who shattered the CEO public relations paradigm by branding himself rather than his product. The Slater timeline begins with Trumps' spit ball throwing, football playing, military school youth. He describes dear old Dad's philosophy of development ("Get in get it done, get it done right and get out.") This is followed by an engaging recap of how Trump changed the New York skyline by leveraging Atlantic City properties and then became a poster boy for the recession of the 1990s. His much reported rise and comeback is deconstructed in terms of his capacity for self-branding (force of personality, willingness to broadcast private life, delivering the goods, and "truthful hyperbole.")
Slater spends too much time on getting Trump to say yes to the book and trying to create a management roadmap from Trump's unique career. But he gets the details right. Trump tends to stay close the office, doesn't use computers, thinks e-mail is for wimps, avoids germs by withholding handshakes, broke up with his second wife in a gossip column, and calls himself the biggest star on television.
Slater interviewed 150 people, yet the most revealing moments are when Trump speaks for himself. For example, when he insists that he is "worth the salary of six actors on Friends." When ex-wife Marla Maples comments about his virility, he says, "That's what sells condos in New York." Such comments derail Slater's desire to extract leadership lessons from Trump. Whether you find him brilliant or a carnival barker, Donald Trump is one of a kind. His success represents a moment when a celebrity and his audience are merged: Neither can stop looking at him. --Barbara Mackoff
Download Description
"With The Apprentice, Donald Trump has gone beyond celebrity to become a true legend. He's the one billionaire everyone recognizes, the only one whose name is its own global brand. But, for all the ink that's been spilled about him, nobody's ever fully captured the man¿until now.
Donald Trump agreed to give Robert Slater unprecedented access to his world: over 100 hours of private conversations and meetings. Wherever Trump went, Slater was there: as a ""fly on the wall"" at deal-making sessions, on Trump's Gulfstream...everywhere. Slater interviewed 150 of Trump's former and present employees and colleagues, even his toughest competitors.
Now, he reveals the man in full: the businessman and dealmaker, strategist and survivor, celebrity and personality. You'll learn how Trump transformed himself from an unknown local real-estate developer to a global magnate. You'll see how he really does business, discovering lessons that go far beyond anything he's revealed before. You'll witness his brilliant media management...and watch him leverage his celebrity to save his casino business, not once but twice. Most remarkable of all, you'll discover how Trump really feels about his celebrity, his empire, his outsized American life.
- Why there's no such thing as over-exposure
- From celebrity to legend: larger than life¿and lovin' it
- Not just a billionaire: a global brand
- How to build a multi-billion-dollar global business on your own name
- One tough hombre: coming back, again and again
- From $9.2 billion in debts to the Forbes wealthiest American list
- A ""fly on the wall"": watch Trump operate, for real Trump at work: real Trump dealmaking, decision-making, and leadership
The real Donald Trump: the most revealing Trump profile ever written!
Based on an unprecedented 100 hours of private, personal access to Trump...plus over 150 interviews with associates and rivals!
The first book to capture all of Trump: executive, dealmaker, strategist, survivor, celebrity, student of the media...and the man behind the legend
Beyond the art of the deal: Trump-powered business lessons you won't find in his own books
Who is Donald Trump?
You think you know. You don't. Even if you've watched The Apprentice.
Even if you've read his best-selling books.
Want to know what really makes him tick? How he really operates?
When Donald Trump heard about the book, he threatened to sue. Then, he changed his mind...and gave Robert Slater more access than any other journalist or author¿ever. Slater sat beside Trump at buy-out sessions and building inspections, on his helicopter and jet plane, at QVC and at Apprentice rehearsals. Slater watched Trump in public¿and in his most unguarded moments. And Slater talked to everyone...from legendary rival Steve Wynn to publicity-shy Trump family members.
The result: the most intimate and powerful Trump profile ever written.
This, finally, is the real Trump: totally uncensored, and utterly riveting. "
Customer Reviews:
No such thing as journalism.......2007-04-26
Robert Slater wants you to know that Donald Trump threatened to sue him, to prevent him from writing this book. "Odd and chilling," is how the author describes the letter he received from one of Trump's lawyers, during the height of the success of The Apprentice.
The lawsuit didn't happen, and after wasting several hours of my life reading "No Such Thing as Over-Exposure," the reason is evident. Trump -who must indeed be a very charming person--brought Slater to his side, and used him as a stenographer for his endless hype and self-promotion. Slater doesn't question anything, not even the most ridiculous of Trump's assertions, such as saying that he could go into the Middle East, and bring peace to the area, faster than you can say, "You're Fired."
Slater -who must have picked up something from his subject in terms of hyperbole--wants the reader to believe that he did a tremendous amount of research (More than 150 interviews! Flights in Donald's plane and helicopters!) but the book comes across as nothing more than a quickie job and one more pamphlet proclaiming the wonders of The Donald.
A Good Read!.......2005-08-29
This admiring biography of real estate billionaire Donald Trump begins with a reference to Trump's "swept-back blonde mane" - although his thinning forward comb-over is probably the most famous weird hairdo in America. Perhaps author Robert Slater picked up a bit of his subject's tendency toward what Trump calls "truthful hyperbole." Slater's writing is interesting and accessible, in a breathless sort of way. However, despite being based on 150 interviews, this biography doesn't contain a lot of information that Trump has not already disseminated through his books, TV show and softball press interviews. Slater seems to regard Trump's exaggerations as charming foibles and, given tremendous access, apparently accepts Trump's self-assessment that he is a skilled negotiator, shrewd investor and efficient administrator - even when the author's own anecdotes show Trump in another guise: as a bullying micro-manager. Of course, the insight that negative publicity isn't always a bad thing is a primary theme. We recommend this close-up meeting with Trump to general readers who find that his outsized ego, lifestyle and accomplishments hold a certain fascination and to businesspeople who just want to know how he always lands on his feet. (Hint: he delivers the goods.)
Showman, Showoff Or Sage? .......2005-06-19
If you are interested in the business world or not, there has been no other business leader consistently in the news more then Donald Trump over the last 20 years. If you think he is an attention starved ego driven showman or just a smart business leader in the right place at the right time, the fact is you have an opinion of him. Few other business leaders share his celebrity. It is this celebrity that prompted me to pick up this book for no other reason then to see what all the fuss was about. As a bit of a perspective to this review I have not watched one episode of his TV show and I have always felt that his biggest skill was an uncanny knack for finding television cameras. If you mentioned Trump to me the only thing I would think was oversized ego.
So I needed a lot of convincing to be done to move my view of Trump into more of a positive light. This author did make me rethink my position, but unlike the subject of the book and his in your face M1A1 tank approach to image, the author laid out facts and present his story with limited bias. The author does cover some history, but the area I found most interesting was the focus on the current Trump activities. The one thing I came away with is that you have it hand it to him, he is driving to have his business empire catch up to his ego. Overall I enjoyed the book. This is the first book on Trump I have read in a long time so there was an element of freshness to the subject. I also found that either the author had an engaging method of writing or the subject mater was just so interesting that I kept moving from page to page excitedly.
Trumping the Business World with "Truthful Hyperbole".......2005-05-26
I have read and reviewed many of Slater's previous books and consider him to be among the most perceptive and eloquent commentators on the contemporary business world. It came as no surprise, therefore, that Trump agreed to cooperate with Slater on the writing of this book but only after checking him out with those who had already had a close working relationship with him, notably Jack Welch. There is probably no other executive who has a tighter schedule than does Trump. However, on numerous occasions, beginning in June of 2004, he agreed to meet with Slater or talk with him on the telephone. Trump also arranged for Slater to attend various private meetings related to Trump's building projects; to travel with him to a building site in Manhattan and observe his inspection of it; to journey with Trump for a book promotion appearance at QVC, the shopping channel; and to fly with him on his jet to a "demolition party" in Chicago where Trump planned to build a 90-story $800-million luxury tower on what had been the site of the Chicago Sun-Times. Slater was also allowed to observe a casting call for the third season of The Apprentice television program at during the filming of one of the episodes for its third season. Finally, Trump helped to facilitate many of the interviews of those best qualified to discuss both his business career and the celebrity synonymous with it.
Trump is as protective of the privacy of his three children as he is eager to discuss almost anything and anyone else. Nonetheless, he allowed Slater to meet with one son (Donald Trump, Jr.) and apparently set no restrictions on what they could discuss. Presumably Trump allowed such direct and extensive access, both to himself and to countless others, because he trusted Slater, was favorably impressed by his professional credentials, sensed his inherent integrity, and believed that he would receive fair and circumspect treatment in what later became this book.
With regard to its title, it is Slater's opinion that, at least for now, "there seems to be no downside" to all the attention Trump has so actively sought and has so substantially achieved. "His look of giddy pleasure at the amount of attention he is [currently] getting says it all. He savors having so many choices to make [i.e. he is inundated with participation proposals of various kinds] that put him in the public spotlight. If he could, one imagines, he would not make a choice at all. He would do everything. After all, in Donald Trump's world, there is no such thing as over-exposure." At least for now.
Proportionality is a key element in Slater's earlier discussions of other prominent executives such as John Chambers, George Soros, and Jack Welch and it is also true of what he has to say about Trump. Obviously, there is much that Slater admires but much else which Slater finds irritating (at best) and sometimes infuriating (at worst). Of greatest interest to me is Slater's explanation of how and why Trump "openly names his products after himself and markets his name as synonymous with his products: his luxury residences, his casino hotels, and so on. [Trump] insists, as well -- correctly, at it turns out -- that using his name on his company products enhances their value." (Please see Chapter 8, "Branding a Name.") I was also interested in learning about certain differences between the public Trump and the private Trump. For example, that he seldom fires anyone in the Trump organization and, generally, is far more patient, forgiving, generous, and deferential than his public persona suggests.
More a quibble than a complaint, I wish Slater had included (perhaps as an appendix) an annotated Timeline of the key dates and defining moments in Trump's career thus far. For example, when and why he decided to become a commercial real estate developer in Manhattan, Atlantic City, Chicago, and Las Vegas; also, when and why he agreed to produce and star in The Apprentice television program. Slater addresses these and other issues within his narrative. However, given the complexity of Trump's various business activities, it would be helpful to have a chronological frame-of-reference to consult periodically, one which clarifies when, what, with whom, where, etc.
Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Slater's earlier work, notably Jack Welch and the GE Way: Management Insights and Leadership Secrets of the Legendary CEO; Microsoft Rebooted: How Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer Reinvented Their Company; SOROS: The Unauthorized Biography, the Life, Times and Trading Secrets of the World's Greatest Investor; The Wal-Mart Decade: How a New Generation of Leaders Turned Sam Walton's Legacy into the World's #1 Company; Saving Big Blue: Leadership Lessons & Turnaround Tactics of IBM's Lou Gerstner; and Get Better or Get Beaten!: 31 Leadership Secrets from GE's Jack Welch.
Boring, uncritical, uninsightful.......2005-04-03
March 13 reviewer Corinne Smith nails it. This is a basically a series or collection of interviews, primarily with fans of "the Donald", who have no problems with his oxymoronic concept of "truthful hyperbole". Trump is a genius at shameless and shameful self-promotion, with an almost endless ego, but the story told here is flat, uninspiring, unrevealing, and tedious.
And the book is simply boring. Did I say boring? It is boring.
Book Description
In this definitive guide, Forrest Mosten--an internationally recognized mediation expert--helps would-be mediators answer the critical question "Do I have the values, skills, personality, and commitment necessary to mediate?"
A comprehensive resource, the book also explores a wealth of timely topics including the need to establish standards of the profession, how to maintain confidentiality, the pros and cons of co-mediation, and the place of mediation in the process of court and law reform. Straightforward and reader-friendly, the Mediation Career Guide is filled with practice tips, self-surveys, diagrams, reading resources, a list of training programs and volunteer opportunities, budget forms, and model standards of conduct. This hands-on resource is designed to make the challenging journey of becoming a peacemaker a one-step-at-a-time manageable process.
Customer Reviews:
A Solid Basis for Starting Your Practice.......2005-03-21
It is one thing to learn how to mediate, it is another to learn how to start your business as a mediator. This book focuses on the second task. I found that this book contains good, practical advice for analyzing your own abilities as a mediator and setting up your practice. It even talks about how to establish the physical environment of your office. Combine this with Allan H. Goodman's new, second edition of Basic Skills for the New Mediator, and you should be ready to hang out your shingle.
You Cannot Proceed Without this book!.......2005-03-10
I am just beginning my mediation practice. This book stays with me all day. It gives practical advice, plus deals with the emotional issues attached with such a leap of faith that is required for entering this field. I highy recommend this to everyone!
A must have!.......2003-08-10
This book is one of the most helpful and insightful books that I have read. If you are thinking of, or already are, a mediator, this book is full of great information, ideas, and helpful hints.
This book is an easy read, you could read it in one evening and then be on your way to implement the things that you have learned.
The Definitive Book on Mediation.......2002-02-18
Forrest Mosten has written what must be the definitive book for those who are considering or might consider a career in mediation.
I have known the author since 1970, when he was a law student working part time for me in the foreign student office at UCLA. Even then he was thinking about how he might incorporate his strong social conscience into the practice of law. Ten years later he found his answer when he committed himself to becoming a professional mediator. For Mosten, mediation is more than an efficient means of resolving disputes, it is a way to work as a peacemaker at the person-to-person level. It provides its practitioners who are attorneys with an alternative to the adversarial nature of the legal system, which weighs heavily on many lawyers. Of course it provides the same benefit for clients. He makes his point about mediation as a peace effort dramatically in chapter one, where he states "...don't jump into a growing but still uncertain field like mediation unless you eat, breath and dream about creating peace and resolving conflict and are willing to risk everything to make it happen".
In addition to maintaining a highly successful mediation practice in Los Angeles, Mosten trains future mediators and he has established a nation-wide network of mediation centers. He also is the author of three previous books on mediation.
The author's purpose in writing the book is stated in the first paragraph of the preface, where he says "It was an uphill climb to build my mediation practice. This book is my effort to help you avoid many of the costly mistakes I made along the way".
The book is organized into three parts, each with several chapters, followed by nine appendices. In the first part, "Is Mediation right for You?", he covers the question of what it takes to be a mediator, such as being a good listener, patient, tolerant and neutral, flexible, and empathic, among other traits. In the chapter on "Education and Training", he discusses the question of non-lawyers as mediators. Mosten admits that lawyers have certain advantages, but he lists other fields which often provide a good background, such as therapists, business persons, teachers and clergy. Whether they come from the law or other fields, he states, extensive training in mediation will be required. Here Mosten goes into some depth on this subject which is dear to his heart because he wants "...mediation to be the first stop on the conflict resolution highway", which means having "...enough trained and experienced mediators available to meet this need".
Part Two, "Building Your Career as a Mediator" deals with the creation of a mediation signature, which includes advice on writing vision and mission statements to distinguish your particular practice. He also advocates having a board of directors to help with these tasks and to provide a sounding board along the way which he had earlier described as an informal group of persons whose judgment you trust. (He might more accurately have called them a "board of advisors). Another chapter, "Creating a Mediation-Friendly Environment", gets down to reading materials and arrangement of the reception room. Most important, he introduces the idea of the client library, described as a consumer-friendly collection of books, video tapes and other resources which will help clients learn what they need to help solve their own problems. This concept is related to Mosten's preference for informed client consent, and he reports that his library is well used by his clients.
Part Three is "The Nuts and Bolts of Private Practice", which covers topics such as finding a place to practice, naming your practice, forming strategic partnerships and networks. With respect to networks, he uses his own Mosten Mediation Centers as an illustrative model, in which he has established local mediators around the country as subcontractors. In the chapter entitled "Strategic Planning and Investing in Yourself", he gets very specific about the time and money required to establish a mediation practice, including a breakdown of out -of-pocket costs which add up to $57,000 over a five-year period.
Even though he has stated his desire to see a great increase in the number of practicing mediators, Mosten in no way sugarcoats the obstacles and challenges facing anyone who plans to enter the field. His candor, at times, would almost seem to discourage, but at least anyone who has read the book would enter the field fully warned. More important they will have read a well integrated combination of philosophy and nuts and bolts, each supporting the other.
This is a critical book for those contemplating a career in mediation, it is a useful book for anyone contemplating using the services of a mediator, and it is an interesting book for those who are attracted by the concept of mediation as a force for more peaceful interpersonal relations.
A MUST HAVE book for all Mediators!.......2001-12-04
Dear fellow mediators or anyone looking into the mediation profession:
Mosten's book, Mediation Career Guide, is just the book I was looking for to strategically guide me through deciding whether to go into mediation as a profession. The book is well organized and can be read cover to cover or as a reference guide. Some of the key parts of the book are 1) Deciding if Mediation is Right for You and 2) Building Your Career as a Mediator.
The chapter on deciding whether to get your law degree or not for mediation was an especially important chapter for me. I completed one year of law school and then decided to re-evaluate my J.D. path. I enrolled in SMU's Dispute Resolution program to help with my decision. Mosten's book is the only mediation book that directly dealt with the J.D. dilemma. The chapter did not tell me what to do or what Mosten thinks is best. Instead, the chapter asked certain questions about my background to see whether a J.D. is a good choice or not.
Mosten's book is a MUST HAVE if you are deciding whether the mediation profession is right for you and how to build a mediation practice.
Thank you Forrest (Woody) Mosten for this book and all of your contributions to the peace-making profession!
Roseanne Pierre
Book Description
As a founder and managing director of Global Business Network, James Ogilvy helped develop the technique of scenario planning, which has become an integral part of strategic thinking in both business and government. Now Ogilvy shows how we can use this cutting-edge method for social change in our own neighborhoods. In Creating Better Futures, Ogilvy presents a profound new vision of how the world is changing--and how it can be changed for the better. Ogilvy argues that self-defined communities, rather than individuals or governments, have become the primary agents for social change. Towns, professional associations, and interest groups of all kinds help shape the future in all the ways that matter most, from schools and hospitals to urban development. The key to improvement is scenario planning--a process that draws on groups of people, both lay and expert, to draft narratives that spell out possible futures, some to avoid, some inspiring hope. Scenario planning has revolutionized both public and private planning, leading to everything from the diverse product lines that have revived the auto industry, to a timely decision by the state of Colorado to avoid pouring millions into an oil-shale industry that never materialized. But never before has anyone proposed that it be taken up by society as a whole. Drawing on years of experience in both academia and the private sector, where he developed both a keen sense of how businesses work best and an abiding passion for changing the world, James Ogilvy provides the tools we need to create better communities: better health, better education, better lives.
Customer Reviews:
Scenarios of better futures -- "democratically endorsed hope".......2006-05-17
Jay Ogilvy begins this book by observing that "There is nothing inevitable about better futures. We have to create them." This is a powerful early statement of his approach toward the yet-to-be, which repudiates a singular and predictive mode of knowing. That is, he argues, we co-author the future through our actions, and we must take responsibility for that process. The burden of the book is to explain how and why we can coherently do so.
So although it may seem at first to be a methodological work, this is more of a philosophical meditation on what lies behind the scenario planning methodology; an exposition of the worldview which informs and makes scenaric thinking, especially normative scenarios, viable. For detail on how to actually do scenario planning, we are referred to previous, more manual-like works by such authors as Kees van der Heijden and Peter Schwartz. Ogilvy's focus is different, and he shows how scenarios provide the catalyst for a conversation among communities about what they want to become. Rather than holding the perils of judgment or moral commitment at arm's length, then, as much academic work modeled on supposedly "hard" science wants to do, in this arena he argues for its importance. "World-weary pessimism seems so much more intellectually respectable than even the most educated hope. However, I would argue...that the fashionable face of all-knowing despair is finally immoral. Granted, the bubble-headed optimism of Pangloss and Polyanna are equally immoral. A refusal to look at poverty or oppression can contribute to their perpetuation; but so can a cynical commitment to their inevitability."
Ogilvy takes it upon himself to show how the practice of normative scenario planning anticipates a paradigm shift currently occurring in the "human sciences", by embracing an interpretive, relational, ethically pluralistic - but not shallowly relativistic - worldview. He situates this thinking in the broad currents of contemporary thought by reference to literary criticism, anthropology, psychology, sociology and other disciplines. Rather than claiming entirely original scholarship, then, here he joins "familiar dots in relatively unfamiliar ways". The book ranges across a vast and various intellectual territory in search of a sound basis for normative futures work. In my view he finds it, and presents it, extremely well. For example, he suggests an intriguing parallel between the trajectory of literary criticism and that of studying the future. In interpretation, the tendency has gradually shifted from an original emphasis on the author's intentions, to the text itself, and finally to the role of the reader in constructing her own meaning. Similarly, studying the future was long conceived as an attempt to reveal "God's intentions", after which it became mainly a scientific attempt to trace the story etched in the patterns of history, or reality itself; and finally it has emerged as a matter of creating worlds and meanings for our own purposes. (Rather than being merely "readers" of the world, though, we can now see ourselves of the authors of our own story, thereby closing the interpretive loop.)
This philosophical approach may sound specialized, but in fact it reads as a startlingly clarifying and accessible portrait of the best practice in thinking about possible futures; things that haven't happened yet. Rather than writing an instructional guide to scenario planning he takes the trouble to explain how and why the worldview underpinning this strategy makes sense, and how the whole philosophical current of the West of our age is tending in this direction. It is therefore suitable and relevant to a far broader possible audience. Ogilvy's philosophy experience allows him to understand complex writers and thinkers, but his business background has forced him to avoid the communicative obscurantism that accompanies them. He wants to use the ideas, but extracts these from their ugly and intimidating packaging for use in a purer and more potent form. He navigates us through the dilemma of relativism (anything goes) vs absolutism (My Way, My Tradition...) and comes out with a relational worldview and an endorsement of pluralist ethics.
Ogilvy describes the book as an "odd mix of philosophy and consulting". The book is indeed a rare hybrid, like its author, part-academic and part-consultant. And it may equally puzzle purist philosophers and dedicated profiteers. However, for anyone interested in being able to bridge the thought-worlds of academia and business (or thought and action; principles and profits), this combination is not only refreshing to read, it's a definite strength. Ogilvy has had a chance to "test in the marketplace" the ideas he picked up in philosophy, and the test has made them stronger. So, an odd mix it may be, but it's one pulled off so persuasively and elegantly that the book warrants the close attention of not only those already concerned with futures studies, but more broadly, anyone concerned about how quality thinking about the future ought to look. In this respect I am reminded of The Ecology of Commerce, by Paul Hawken, a former colleague of Ogilvy. (They were two thirds of the team that wrote Seven Tomorrows, an early scenarios book; the third musketeer was fellow GBN Peter Schwartz, who provides a brief but helpful foreword in this volume.)
Overall this is an excellent, erudite and very well written contribution to the thinking behind scenario planning, and is highly recommended to those in search of a comprehensive, theoretically informed account of that methodology, or indeed a broader sense of the importance and value of a normative orientation in discussing possible futures in any community.
A new paradigm for shaping our future.......2004-02-20
How do we achieve our futures? Is our future predetermined? How much of our future can we extrapolate from our past and our present? These are questions which James Ogilvy addresses in this book.
Ogilvy has an impressive background in both academia and the business world. Before co-founding the Global Business Network, he was a Professor of Philosophy at Yale and Williams, and a social researcher with the Stanford Research Institute (Values and Lifestyles Program). In Creating Better Futures he draws on all his experiences in these fields to outline what he sees as an emerging paradigm of how we view and shape society. This paradigm he calls the 'relational worldview': a view of the world which highlights relationships and interdependencies across and in spite of differences.
Ogilvy devotes a large part of the book to outlining his worldview - he identifies social structures which were dominant in the past & explains why they are no longer sufficient to provide us with the futures we want. Then he relates his argument for a new world view to shifts he sees in other social sciences, namely anthropology and literary criticism: the shift from objectivity to subjectivity, from things to symbols and relationships, from determinism to ambiguity and the existence of many different but equal possibilities which arise from meanings created and shared by and within groups.
Ogilvy points out that we already have at hand the essentials for creating a better tomorrow; the three key elements of players, values and tools we need are easily identified once we look at the world through the new paradigm of the relational worldview. He rejects the Religious Institutions of past eras, and the Governments and Marketplace of the modern era, as major players in future society. Placing individualist and collective societies at two opposite ends of the same spectrum of social organization, he identifies individuals within communities as the new actors in making decisions.
Similarly, the social values of this new paradigm are not found in the absolutism or determinism of religion, or the scientific objectivity of modernism. Nor are they found in the subjective relativism of postmodernism. Rather, values are found in the ethical pluralism of interrelated communities - an ongoing process whereby communities share their hopes and negotiate meanings as they try to get along with each other.
Recognizing that in an increasingly interdependent world there are a multiplicity of religions, races, standards, norms and values, Ogilvy's worldview identifies scenario-building as the tool best suited for creating better futures. Scenario-building is a process which provides a venue for a individuals and groups within a community to assess, articulate and negotiate its hopes and values for a better future. In the final chapters of the book Ogilvy gives a brief outline and some illustrations of the practice of scenario planning.
This is stimulating, though not easy, book to read. Adopting a new perspective is always challenging, and Ogilvy has included a lot of abstract philosophical, sociological and literary theories as he builds his case for a new worldview. However I chose this book because I wanted to read more than another "How to .." book - I wanted a book that would situate the technique of scenario-building in a wider social and global context. Ogilvy's well-considered paradigm provides a very good starting-point for us to contemplate as we try to negotiate our shrinking and increasingly interdependent world.
Determinism dies another little death.......2003-02-20
Compiled in part as a rebuttal to those who see the future through a dystopian lens (i.e. Orwell and company), Ogilvy offers this book as a refusal to accept either the notion that we are a doomed people, or that we must settle for "good enough" in contemplating progress and the future. He offers scenario building as the premiere tool for creating multiple, multicultural futures, based upon a "relational worldview". In doing so, Ogilvy tackles positivism and relativism, values and ethics, and the importance of true pluralism to creating better futures.
Ogilvy is well equipped for the task. With a doctorate in philosophy from Yale University, he has taught at that venerable institution, as well as at the University of Texas, and Williams College. He has been interested in the relationships between human values and consumer societies, and headed the "Values and Lifestyles" research project at the think tank, SRI International (formerly known as Stanford Research Institute). He worked in scenario building with Peter Schwartz for Royal Dutch/Shell, and later co-founded Global Business Network (GBN) with Schwartz and others. At GBN, he specializes in corporate scenario planning and research on futures in business environments. He has also authored, Living Without a Goal (1994), China's Futures (with Peter Schwartz - 2000), and Many Dimensional Man (1977), as well as numerous other publications through SRI.
Ogilvy fleshes out his relational worldview in the first part of the book, where he traces the move from mysticism to rationalism, and the evolving recognition of the inter-relatedness of the world today. Emphasizing the growth of elaborate networks of information and obviously competing visions of the future, Ogilvy constructs an extremely useful framework for beginning to consider potential futures in the world at large. He considers changing relations in religion, politics, and economics, in the struggle between individual and collectivist posturing and power, and weaves together multiple, shifting disciplinary views in the human sciences, and interprets these into a new view of the world that avoids the excesses of zealots and nihilists alike.
Ogilvy takes a chapter to discuss the application of particular features of this new world to normative scenario building. Recognizing the philosophical shift from things to symbols, the growing emphasis on relationships, the shift to narration from explanation, and the questionability of "timeless norms", Ogilvy cautions against wholesale subjective relativism, and instead holds out the possibility of what he calls the democratization of meaning, and paths towards ethical pluralism, that strives to unite the normal, or what exists, with the normative, what ought to be. In this model, ambiguity is always present, and the potential for multiple interpretations is rife - and a source of welcome creativity. Likewise, the idea of heterarchy, a sort of hyperlinkish anti-hierarchy, creates opportunities for multiplicity as well. Rather than trying to devise the One True Path based on immutable "laws" of nature, multiple paths are carved out that represent the shared hopes and dreams of community and communities.
By Part Four, entitled New Rules, New Tools, it is quite obvious how scenario building works hand in hand with the relational worldview and ethical pluralism Ogilvy has discussed. The rest of the book is devoted to the use of the scenario building tool, with examples of scenario building in action in first an educational context, and then a healthcare context. He closes by reiterating why even thinking about one best future is no more possible that thinking about one best way of being human, and encourages the visualization of a "rich ecology of species in the gardens of the sublime."
The strengths of this book are many; it is an extremely enjoyable read, with just enough additional sources to round it up to a "scholarly" tome. In the best scenario building tradition, the thesis of the book is cohesive and plausible, and is an especially refreshing departure from much of the scenario building literature, that too frequently focuses on business applications and barely questioned assumptions defined by buzzwords. Ogilvy stresses the need for passion and pluralism to co-exist, reminds us of the true potential of communal/social creativity, and suggests the possibility of exhilaration in imaginations unfettered. Creating Better Futures is aptly named, and offers an "Etch-a-Sketch" blueprint to be used over and over to do just that.
Determinism dies another little death.......2003-02-20
Compiled in part as a rebuttal to those who see the future through a dystopian lens (i.e. Orwell and company), Ogilvy offers this book as a refusal to accept either the notion that we are a doomed people, or that we must settle for "good enough" in contemplating progress and the future. He offers scenario building as the premiere tool for creating multiple, multicultural futures, based upon a "relational worldview". In doing so, Ogilvy tackles positivism and relativism, values and ethics, and the importance of true pluralism to creating better futures.
Ogilvy is well equipped for the task. With a doctorate in philosophy from Yale University, he has taught at that venerable institution, as well as at the University of Texas, and Williams College. He has been interested in the relationships between human values and consumer societies, and headed the "Values and Lifestyles" research project at the think tank, SRI International (formerly known as Stanford Research Institute). He worked in scenario building with Peter Schwartz for Royal Dutch/Shell, and later co-founded Global Business Network (GBN) with Schwartz and others. At GBN, he specializes in corporate scenario planning and research on futures in business environments. He has also authored, Living Without a Goal (1994), China's Futures (with Peter Schwartz - 2000), and Many Dimensional Man (1977), as well as numerous other publications through SRI.
Ogilvy fleshes out his relational worldview in the first part of the book, where he traces the move from mysticism to rationalism, and the evolving recognition of the inter-relatedness of the world today. Emphasizing the growth of elaborate networks of information and obviously competing visions of the future, Ogilvy constructs an extremely useful framework for beginning to consider potential futures in the world at large. He considers changing relations in religion, politics, and economics, in the struggle between individual and collectivist posturing and power, and weaves together multiple, shifting disciplinary views in the human sciences, and interprets these into a new view of the world that avoids the excesses of zealots and nihilists alike.
Ogilvy takes a chapter to discuss the application of particular features of this new world to normative scenario building. Recognizing the philosophical shift from things to symbols, the growing emphasis on relationships, the shift to narration from explanation, and the questionability of "timeless norms", Ogilvy cautions against wholesale subjective relativism, and instead holds out the possibility of what he calls the democratization of meaning, and paths towards ethical pluralism, that strives to unite the normal, or what exists, with the normative, what ought to be. In this model, ambiguity is always present, and the potential for multiple interpretations is rife - and a source of welcome creativity. Likewise, the idea of heterarchy, a sort of hyperlinkish anti-hierarchy, creates opportunities for multiplicity as well. Rather than trying to devise the One True Path based on immutable "laws" of nature, multiple paths are carved out that represent the shared hopes and dreams of community and communities.
By Part Four, entitled New Rules, New Tools, it is quite obvious how scenario building works hand in hand with the relational worldview and ethical pluralism Ogilvy has discussed. The rest of the book is devoted to the use of the scenario building tool, with examples of scenario building in action in first an educational context, and then a healthcare context. He closes by reiterating why even thinking about one best future is no more possible that thinking about one best way of being human, and encourages the visualization of a "rich ecology of species in the gardens of the sublime."
The strengths of this book are many; it is an extremely enjoyable read, with just enough additional sources to round it up to a "scholarly" tome. In the best scenario building tradition, the thesis of the book is cohesive and plausible, and is an especially refreshing departure from much of the scenario building literature, that too frequently focuses on business applications and barely questioned assumptions defined by buzzwords. Ogilvy stresses the need for passion and pluralism to co-exist, reminds us of the true potential of communal/social creativity, and suggests the possibility of exhilaration in imaginations unfettered. Creating Better Futures is aptly named, and offers an "Etch-a-Sketch" blueprint to be used over and over to do just that.
Customer Reviews:
Don't Just Relate - Advocate!.......2007-01-12
A well written text by an author with vision and insight. The material is accurate and to the point and easily understood. The sales method described in the text is sure to be the sales method of the future and companies that do not understand this and do not attempt to use the lessons taught in the text will be the losers.
Regaining Customer Trust Is Not for Greedy Sissies.......2006-07-16
To many, the idea of "trust-based marketing" sounds like a contradiction in terms. But according to MIT Sloan School Professor and entrepreneur Glen L. Urban, it's the only way that forward-looking companies can find a competitive edge as customers become more wary and the Internet has become the great equalizer. The irony is that Urban's concept is not new but a back-to-basics philosophy, for instance, when one thinks of the classic scene in 1947's "Miracle on 34th Street" in which the alleged St. Nick tells a Macy's shopper to go to Gimbel's to get a better price on a desired toy, the customer becomes even more loyal to Macy's than ever. This is a genuine example of what Urban calls customer advocacy where a firm seeks to advocate its customers by helping them discover and apply the most appropriate solution for their needs, even if it ends up that the company cannot do it with its own products or services.
Humanism of this sort has its limits, but the point is to reach as far as possible toward that point where the company becomes known as a trusted advisor, i.e., the optimum market position between its own products and the broader needs of customer. This will engender positive word-of-mouth, which should consequently help to reduce acquisition and marketing costs. For many companies, this will require quite a makeover in which not only the way of doing business becomes significantly changed but also the branding and infrastructure essential to support it. Urban, however, makes a strong case for such an investment and provides guidance in a helpful, stepwise fashion. These elements include focusing on customer success and being more open to customer knowledge, creating a sustainable brand based on customer advocacy and creating an actual brand community, and providing the appropriate incentive compensation to staff. An advocacy-based strategy for a company may sound new-fangled, but Urban really shows the necessity of coming back to what the customer wants and realizing that finding it goes beyond one's offering. Highly recommended.
Making an old movie idea into mainstream marketing........2005-12-07
As I was reading this book the old movie 'Miracle on 34th Street' came to mind. In this movie Macy's store Santa tells some of his visitors that Macy's didn't have just what they wanted but that Gimbal's did. (I don't remember the exact situation or wording.) Macy's management is apalled until they start getting feedback from their customers who are so happy with Macy's that they spend more than they planned. Then they rally to support Santa.
Dr. Urban has written this book to broaden this concept and discuss it's applicability to the real world. He proposes that businesses get closer to their customers by deliberately seeking their advice on things like what do they want on new models. He points out that this kind of marketing may be meaningless in some companies (if you're selling corn or pork bellies it's quality and price), or if you have a monopoly on a particular service or product.
Surprisingly though he talks quite a bit about the way General Motors has done some programs that have produced good results for them in a variety of ways. GM is not one of those companies you normally think of in terms of exotic marketing campaigns.
A very interesting book that makes you want to stop and think about your own marketing plans.
Exciting and appealing: common sense ideas that are not too common.......2005-12-04
Glen Urban is someone you need to listen to. His experience with the area of Marketing in and out of academia has earned him the right to introduce new and bold ideas that may signal the way of the future. In "Don't Just Relate -Advocate!" he does exactly that, beginning by acknowledging that we are living a new age, where customers are in power and traditional marketing paradigms, such as push/pull schemes or more recent CRM-based approaches fail to succeed as they used to before. In the face of the abundance of options, information and simplicity of conducting business, all of which obey to the penetration and evolution that the Internet has accomplished, companies that want to continue to thrive have to seriously consider trust and advocacy-based marketing -the new paradigm he presents- as the option to pursue.
He describes the model he proposes in detail, providing those interested in exploring it further with tools to apply to their own settings all the way from an initial assessment of their firm's situation to tips on how to have the model permeate into the different functional areas of the company, to give it the needed foundations it needs to succeed. While he clarifies that he doesn't feel advocacy is for every situation/company, he later counterargues with what he calls the Advocacy Imperative: "If you do not do it, your competitors will!", further confirming his conviction that this is the one way winners will be left to take in the future, if they want to continue to win.
Overall, this is a very good book, with plenty of practical examples from the author's research and consulting experience, for readers to relate with, regardless of their industry. The book is very well structured, exciting and appealing, and though it does repeat previously cited examples once in a while, for the most part, it keeps you engaged through its entirety. As for me, I intend to share the learnings from it with my peers and higher ups.
A Good Read!.......2005-11-29
This is an unusual business book for two reasons: it presents a new marketing idea in which companies act as advocates for their customers; and it is a polemic that insists this strategy is the next big thing in marketing. Unfortunately, author Glen Urban does not quite make a powerful enough case for either position. The basic idea of customer advocacy is straightforward, and Urban does a good job of explaining it in the first chapter. However, he tends to repeat the same ideas and examples, interspersed with the reasons he believes trust-based marketing is the next logical step in the field. Although some of his concepts are fresh, the book lacks the substance it would need to serve as the foundation for a broad-based marketing strategy. Still, we urge marketing strategists interested in trust-based marketing to read it. Although Urban may not convert you into an advocate, his ideas are original and will plant useful seeds.
Customer Reviews:
Very user-friendly and educational.......2005-11-20
Mr. Fombrun is the reputation expert. In this book he and Mr. Van Riel do a great job of ilustrating corporate reputation in simple and clear terms. The use of graphs, examples, metrics, and references to other authors makes the content very credible and useful. This book serves as a guide for quickly applying the concepts of reputation to any organization. It's very easy to read. Don't expect deepness, it's more of a excellent introductory text for those unfamiliar with the topic of corporate reputation.
What Your CEO Needs to Know!.......2003-10-04
Finally something I can use to convince my CEO that reputations can and should be managed! The book provides a comprehensive overview of the critical success factors of reputation management and discusses a number of interesting case studies to underline key points. Though its a complex subject the book reads pretty easy and I could relate most of it to my daily work as a communications professional. To me, the bottom line is I can now start a discussion in my firm about the need for managing reputation and use solid arguments based on both research and other companies' best practice. It seems that being able to explain what drives reputation and who should be involved in managing it is half the work...
Book Description
In the wake of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, executives and policymakers are motivated than ever to reduce the vulnerability of social and economic systems to disasters. Most prior work on “critical infrastructure protection” has focused on the responsibilities and actions of government rather than on those of the private sector firms that provide most vital services. Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response is the first systematic attempt to understand how private decisions and operations affect public vulnerability. It describes effective and sustainable approaches Â- both business strategies and public policies Â- to ensure provision of critical services in the event of disaster. The authors are business leaders from multiple industries and experts in fields as diverse as risk analysis, economics, engineering, organization theory and public policy. The book shows the necessity of deeply rooted collaboration between private and public institutions, and the accountability and leadership required to go from words to action.
Book Description
The history of scenario planning is rich and varied. Throughout the ages people have tried to make decisions today by studying the possibilities of tomorrow. When that tomorrow was more predictable and less fraught with uncertainty, those possibilities had a good chance of being the right ones. Now, however, the only given constant in a world of complexity is change itself. In an environment where information technology is driving an information revolution, and where the rules can be rewritten with breathtaking speed, planning can seem more based on luck than foresight.
There are methods for coping with unpredictability. The Scenario planning techniques described in this book will help to think about uncertainty in a structured way. Based on Gill Ringland's previous book Scenario Planning: Managing for the Future, this updated and expanded version focuses specifically on scenarios in public policy. The use of scenarios to create a framework for a shared vision of the future, by promoting discussion and building consensus outside a business environment, is examined. Ringland also looks at the similarities between organizations which have used scenarios successfully - such as the importance of communication via storyline and image.
Scenarios in Public Policy and its companion, Scenario Planning in Business are both practical paperback books that each expand on specific areas of Scenario Planning. They will appeal to managers looking to learn about and apply a particular aspect of scenario planning.
Reviews of Gill Ringland's prevoius work:
"Nobody can ignore the future. This book is a must-read for any manager aspiring to put scenarios into practice."
Arie de Geus, Former Director of Shell International Petroleum and author of 'The Living Company'
"(Gill Ringland) offers us a mechanism by which to bring structure to information technology and other forms of complexity, offering us the vital ability to understand the dynamics of change."
Oliver Sparrow, Chatham House Forum
Customer Reviews:
Clear and useful.......2003-08-06
This is a very straightforward guide to scenario planning and scenario thinking in the development of public policy and in the public sector. It is relatively short, clearly written, and has excellent references to material on the Internet as well as a good bibliography.
It has four parts. The first two provide case studies of the use of scenarios in public policy and in public sector organizations respectively. Part 3 is a step-bystep guide to the process of scenario planning. Part 4 is titled Scenario Thinking and describes the role of scenarios in catalyzing organizational learning.
Book Description
This volume helps readers move from a tactical public relations approach to a strategic management style based on skillful use of research and planning techniques. Combining the key components of effective management and campaign design, the authors introduce students and practitioners to the tools needed for developing and presenting comprehensive, effective, and accountable plans. Employing clear, straightforward language, they cover techniques for planning and research, as well as the effective application of communication theory. Key features of the volume include the synthesis of knowledge in public relations and communication, covering the critical areas needed for a strategic approach to public relations, and ample real-world examples, providing concrete applications of principles and theories.
With its practical and accessible approach, Strategic Public Relations Management will serve well as a text for public relations management and communication campaigns courses, and is essential as a reference for professional practice.
Product Description
This second edition of Erica Weintraub Austin and Bruce E. Pinkletons popular text, Strategic Public Relations Management, helps readers move from a tactical public relations approach to a strategic management style. Building on the first edition, it demonstrates skillful use of research and planning techniques, providing updated research methods that make use of the Internet and programs aiding data entry and analysis. This version also expands its focus to communication program planning more broadly. Chapters in the book cover such critical topics as: *creating a framework for planning; *identifying the elements of a campaign; *determining research needs and developing the research plan; *gathering useful data for strategic guidance; *making research decisions; and *applying theory to professional practice. This book is valuable as a text in public relations management and communication campaigns courses, while also serving as a reference for practitioners. It introduces readers to the tools necessary for developing and presenting comprehensive, effective, and accountable public relations plans, ensuring they are well prepared for managing and executing communication campaigns.
Books:
- Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court
- Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Political Issues (Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Political Issues)
- Terrorism and Homeland Security
- The Art of Fair Isle Knitting: History, Technique, Color & Patterns
- The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival
- The Case Against Hillary Clinton
- The Covenant with Black America
- The Culture of the Cold War (The American Moment)
- The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing
- The Enemy At Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Silva Mind Control Method
- Reflow Soldering Processes and Troubleshooting: SMT, BGA, CSP and Flip Chip Technologies
- History: Fiction or Science
- In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot
- I'll Be Watching You: Inside the Police, 1980-83
- The Clown of God
- Okavango: Africa's Last Eden
- Secrets of the Code: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind The Da Vinci Code
- How To Analyze Businesses, Financial Statements And The Quality Of Earnings -
- A Concise Guide to Community Planning
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Primer of Public Relations Research
Effective Public Relations (9th Edition) (Effective Public Relations)
The Handbook of Strategic Public Relations and Integrated Communications
Advertising and Public Relations Law (Lea's Communication Series)
Public Relations Cases
